The government of Donald Trump announced its intention to repeal the “roadless area conservation rule” that has protected the United States’ primary forests for 25 years, which could open 18 million hectares of national forests to road construction, drilling, and logging.
Read more Premature Ovarian Insufficiency: Mental health after a diagnosis
Conservationists feared this announcement since last year, after Brooke Rollins, Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture, criticized a rule introduced by the Bill Clinton administration, describing it as “excessively restrictive” and an “absurd obstacle” to development.
The United States Forest Service, an agency of the Department of Agriculture, formally announced on Tuesday that it had submitted the proposal to fully repeal the 2001 Roadless Area Conservation Rule because it was outdated and greater flexibility was needed to combat the growing threat of wildfires on public lands. Roads facilitate access for firefighting equipment and can serve as firebreaks.
“Our forests cannot afford another decade of inaction. Across the country, we have seen how avoidable conditions—forests with excessive vegetation, insect pests, and diseases—turn healthy landscapes into tinderboxes,” Rollins said in the statement.
“For too long, outdated restrictions have kept tens of millions of acres of forest out of reach of treatments that improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk to our communities,” she added.
The current regulation also prohibits commercial logging in areas that the Forest Service has officially designated as “inventoried roadless areas” or in national forest zones generally considered undeveloped.
Environmental groups immediately criticized the plan as a rollback in forest protection from Alaska to Oregon and North Carolina. “(This rule) is the only thing preventing much of our most pristine national forests from being affected by industrial development. These forests provide critical habitat for wildlife, supply clean and fresh air and water to millions of people, and contain vast stretches of the last remaining primary forests in the country,” Alex Craven, director of the Sierra Club’s forest campaign, told Mother Jones.
Additionally, they argue that the changes could cause more fires, as humans, responsible for 9 out of 10 fires, will have easier access to remote areas of national forests thanks to new roads.
“Opening our remote forests to more roads and developments, and therefore more fire ignitions, is not a solution for wildfires, and never will be,” said Josh Hicks, conservation campaigns director of the Wilderness Society, in a statement.
According to The Washington Post, wildfires represent an increasing part of the Forest Service’s work as climate change intensifies fires. By mid-July, federal firefighting officials declared the highest fire preparedness level, the highest alert in 10 years. Earlier this month, large fires in the state of Washington forced the evacuation of Spokane residents.
The proposal will be open for public comment for 30 days, after which the Department of Agriculture (USDA) may make revisions and finalize the policy. The repeal of the rule will likely face legal challenges if approved, as several groups promised to sue after Rollins declared last year her intention to revoke the policy.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) called for proposals during the public comment period to “defend our forests from logging by the administration.”
“Their plan would open tens of millions of acres of our national forests to destructive logging, drilling, and road building, including iconic public lands ranging from California’s Tahoe National Forest to Alaska’s Tongass and the Appalachian Trail,” said the NRDC.
Currently, protections apply to more than 17 million hectares of inventoried roadless areas, out of a total of 78 million hectares that make up the national forest system, according to the USDA, which houses the Forest Service, cited by The Washington Post. Repealing the rule would also allow logging in these areas.
More than 95% of those areas are located in the western states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington state, and Wyoming, the department reported. However, the proposed repeal would not affect Colorado and Idaho, which have state restrictions for roadless areas.
The Washington Post recalled that repealing the rule that prohibits access to roadless areas goes beyond the policies of President Donald Trump’s first term, which allowed urbanization of national forests.
In 2020, the Trump administration exempted the Tongass National Forest in Alaska from roadless area protections, which, according to Alaska Republicans, would help the state’s economy by opening 3.7 million hectares to logging.
The USDA stated in its release that the repeal would allow individual forest managers to make decisions tailored to the lands they oversee, without imposing road construction or timber production.
Last year, Trump issued an executive order requiring the Departments of Agriculture and Interior to increase timber production to reduce wildfire risk and boost exports.
The governors of Montana, Utah, and Wyoming praised the repeal in a joint statement with the USDA.
“For 25 years, interference from Washington D.C. has hindered Montana’s ability to properly manage wildfire risk and road development on nearly 60% of Forest Service lands across the state,” said Montana Governor Greg Gianforte. “The decision made today, long overdue, will allow states like Montana to implement proper forest management on federal lands, taking local communities into account.”
Read more Moria: how the Netflix series about Moria Casán became the most excessive of the moment
